ISO Focus The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization Volume 6, No. 4, April 2009, ISSN 1729-8709 the ISO Media and • IFRA : Standards save cost and effort for newspaper industry • Towards flawless data exchange © ISO Focus, www.iso.org/isofocus Contents 1 Comment Karen Higginbottom, Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1 – Tackling the challenges of a digital age 2 World Scene Highlights of events from around the world 3 ISO Scene Highlights of news and developments from ISO members ISO Focus 0904.indd 1 07.04.2009 16:04:07 4 Guest View Reiner Mittelbach, Chief Executive Officer, IFRA ISO Focus is published 11 times a year (single issue : July-August). 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All rights reserved. • Long live ISO 32000-1 – The PDF standard The contents of ISO Focus are copyright • Optical data storage – How long will it last ? and may not, whether in whole or in • Using XML in metadata-enabled infrastructure part, be reproduced, stored in a retrieval • Making life easier in an XML world system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without 32 Developments and initiatives written permission of the Editor. Paving the way for flawless data exchange • The consequences The articles in ISO Focus express the views of silence of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISO or of any of its members. 36 New on the shelf Supporting privacy protection in health informatics • Facilitating ISSN 1729-8709 Printed in Switzerland implementation of ISO 14000 family in 12 languages Cover photo : iStock. Montage ISO 37 Coming up ISO Focus April 2009 © ISO Focus, www.iso.org/isofocus Comment 1 Comment Karen Higginbottom, Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1 – Tackling the challenges of a digital age 2 World Scene Tackling the challenges Highlights of events from around the world 3 ISO Scene of a digital age Highlights of news and developments from ISO members or many, the origins of mass com- mately 2 200 standards with the active cations have been published as Interna- 4 Guest View munication and the media can be contribution of the committee’s 42 par- tional Standards under this mechanism. Reiner Mittelbach, Chief Executive Officer, IFRA Ftraced to Mainz, Germany, where ticipant (P) members. These standards further contribute to Gutenberg invented the movable type an integrated information technology ISO/IEC JTC 1 comprises 17 8 Main Focus printing press in 1450, enabling wide infrastructure. subcommittees, four special working distribution of information. It took hun- groups, three study groups and one work- Significantly more technolo- dreds of years and significant techno- ing group. With the extensive scope of gy than a printing press, paper and ink logical innovation to bring those first the committee’s work, collaboration and is required for a user to publish text or steps to the digital era. cooperation between subcommittees, as video on the Web. From user interfaces Standardization of digital media, well as with external liaison organiza- and accessibility to programming lan- on the other hand, began 30 years ago tions, is essential to provide users with guages and coded character sets, from with the publication in 1979 of ISO 1001, compatibility, interoperability and a sus- office equipment (Gutenberg’s printer which identifies the filing structure of a tainable information technology infra- would have been standardized here !) to magnetic tape. This standard was a par- structure. IT security . all elements are needed tial response to business demands for the by even the most novice users to publish storage, transmission and accessing of their content. The beauty of this technol- ISO and the Media vast amounts of information, a significant “ Perhaps the most ogy, however, is that if done well, the driving force in IT standardization. exciting development publisher may not only find it “ easy ” but also intuitive. Although this state of affairs con- today is that on the Web, tinues, perhaps the most exciting devel- With such a long history, ISO/IEC opment today is that on the Web, anyone anyone can become JTC 1 is proud to be a major contributor can become a published author. Every a published author.” to this work and appreciates the oppor- individual, with very little investment, tunity to share with ISO Focus some of can compose his or her own text, pho- our key efforts, which you will find in tographs and videos and circulate them In fact, beyond the difficulty of the Main Focus of this issue. quickly and widely to audiences that can making sure that a multiplicity of hardware reach millions or even billions. and software from different locations and in different languages can interoperate, it According to Adam Singer in “ The is also important to ensure “ backwards Future Buzz ” (a blog about marketing/ compatibility ” – making sure that tech- PR strategies) there are approximately nologies that may be considered outdated one trillion unique URLs in Google’s are taken into account. Why ? Because in index alone. And, if one were to view a sector where the lifespan of technology all of the content that was on YouTube can be as short as 18 months, it is crucial in 2008, it would take over 412 years. to ensure the ability to migrate technol- Imagine the vast number of building ogy over the lifetime of the data. This blocks of interoperable technology that creates a hectic and challenging envi- are required to create such an amazing ronment, which often requires Interna- and complex infrastructure ! tional Standards to be developed in as little as nine months. When the joint technical commit- tee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information tech- Because it is recognized that Karen Higginbottom, nology, was created in 1987, it brought considerable information technology Chair, ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information together technical committees from ISO work is done outside the formal stand- technology and the International Electrotechnical ards environment, ISO/IEC JTC 1 has a Commission (IEC), merging the exper- process that provides a special opportu- tise of both organizations to develop IT nity for publicly available specifications standards that would enable the wide- from recognized consortia to be submit- spread sharing of information. Since then, ted for voting and approval as Interna- ISO/IEC JTC 1 has published approxi- tional Standards. Currently, 96 specifi- ISO Focus April 2009 1 © ISO Focus, www.iso.org/isofocus World Scene Maritime transport marine technology, should to fight climate change continue to collaborate with IMO on this subject. “ Maritime transport and the climate change challenge ” For more information : was the theme of this year’s Cpt. Charlie H. Piersall, expert meeting on transport Chair, ISO/TC 8 and trade facilitation organ- ([email protected]) ized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Shared waters, shared Development (UNCTAD) in opportunities February 2009. The theme of this year’s World Experts from 33 countries and Water Day, a UN initiative 10 organizations reviewed the celebrated on 22 March, was impact of maritime transport “ Transboundary waters : The EXPRESS expert panel. Photo, courtesy of EFTA on greenhouse gas (GHG) shared waters, shared opportu- emissions, the consequences of nities.” An objective directly The Indian Ministry of Com- EXPRESS action global warming, and measures and indirect- merce and Industry imposed for Europe to mitigate GHG emissions ly supported a six-month ban in January from international shipping. by over 430 The European Commission 2009 on grounds of public ISO Interna- wants to ensure that standardiza- health and safety. Chinese Presentations were made by tional tion in Europe is responsive to toys are reported to account academia, research institu- Standards. market demands and continues for about 60 % of the toy tions, international organiza- to support public policy needs. market in India. tions, governments, the ship- World The European Commission has ping and port industries, as Water Day asked key players to review The deadlock was eased when well as the private sector. highlight- standardization in Europe and to India announced on 2 March ed the make strategic recommendations that it would allow the import In his keynote address, the challenges for its development during the of Chinese toys conforming Secretary-General of the Club raised by decade to come. to the specifications of Inter- de Rome, Mr. Martin Lee (see the national Standards for toy photo below), highlighted the Janvier 2009.indd 1 world’s The Expert Panel for the safety, such as ISO 8124, and connection between maritime 15.01.2009 16:29:26 263 trans-boundary lake and Review of the European Stand- accompanied by certificates transport, climate change and river basins, which include the ardization System (EXPRESS) of conformity issued by labo- the global economic and finan- territory of 145 countries and began its work in January 2009 ratories and testing bodies cial context, and underlined cover nearly half of the and comprises representatives accredited under the Multi- the importance of getting the Earth’s land surface.